Required Reading

A few weeks ago, the New York Times ran an interesting essay on love and literary taste. What struck us about the article was the graphic of a certain Camus classic in the back pocket of some 501s. The book in the back pocket is a time-honored method; my own father pocketed Norman Mailer’s An American Dream more than 30 years ago. Of course, the jury is still out on whether the back pocket novel is just a pretentious way of showing off your literary preferences, or simply a convenient way to keep a good book close at hand. Regardless of your motive, you can find a shorter novel worthy of your pocket on this Guardian list, or check out one of our personal favorites:

CA’s Top 5 Pocket-Worthy Short Novels
-The Stranger by Albert Camus
-Night by Elie Wiesel
-Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
-Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
-Dubliners by James Joyce